Chapter 1: The Avatar Rescue Mission Begins!
"Katara! Aang!" Sokka yelled as the unconscious heroes were dragged away. Sokka heard a loud crash on his right, and saw Toph race alongside him, and she threw a large boulder at the soldiers. One of them bended a large blast of fire, slowing the boulder down, and it landed at their feet. The platoon of soldiers ran onto the deck of the boat, and Toph stopped as the ship set sail.
Sokka, however, kept running, and leaped onto the deck. He threw his boomerang, knocking out a guard, and a soldier crept up behind him, and prepared to attack…
Suddenly, a boy leaped onto the deck, and knocked out the enemy behind Sokka.
"Jet?!" Sokka yelled shocked, as he kicked another soldier aside, "What are you doing here?"
"Look out!" Jet said, jumping over Sokka and taking out an enemy with his hook swords.
"Aang! Katara!" Sokka yelled, as he looked around, and saw his friends being taken below deck.
"Sokka, we'll never make it," Jet said, as the two were surrounded by Fire Nation soldiers, "We've got to get out of here while we still can,"
"No way," Sokka replied, "We have to-"
"It's not up for discussion," Jet said, as he grabbed Sokka, and slid towards a firebender, knocking him down with a hook sword. He pulled Sokka along and threw them both overboard.
"Sir, shall we attack?" A soldier asked the captain of the ship.
"No," the captain said, "We've got our cargo. Let's set the fastest course for the Fire Nation."
"Yes, sir."
As the ship sailed away, Jet and Sokka swam back to shore. They lay on the beach for a few minutes, coughing and sputtering, as Sokka asked in between breaths, "What…is…wrong with you?!"
"What?" Jet asked, "I just saved you back there."
"Katara and Aang-"
"Sokka, come on," Jet said, getting up and putting his hook swords away, "You know we were outnumbered back there. If we want to rescue Katara and Aang we're going to have to pull back and find another way." Jet smiled. "I already have a plan in mind…"
"Hey, Sokka! And that guy who Katara used to like. Wow. Didn't expect to see you here," Toph said, running up to the two.
"Awesome, it's Toph," Jet said, nodding to the blind earthbender, "It's good to see you again, but we don't have a lot of time. We've got to rescue Katara and Aang."
"Really?" Toph asked sarcastically, helping Sokka up out of the sand, "Well, what did you have in mind?"
"Who do you guys know who would help us? And remember, whoever you think of has to be someone we can get to fast."
"Well, we left Zuko back at the campsite," Toph said, pointing in the direction of where Aang's firebending teacher was, "So he'll definitely help us."
"Okay," Jet said, "We should be enough to rescue them."
After enlisting Zuko's help ("What?! You just let them get captured?" "Shut up, and help us pack") and packing up the campsite, the group started their march to where Katara and Aang had been captured.
They walked onto the wrecked pier, and Zuko turned to ask Jet, "What are we doing here?"
"I'm trying to think of the best plan of action," Jet replied, putting a hand over his chin, "If they left from here…" Jet's head snapped up as he heard a noise, and saw a young boy with black hair at the end of the pier.
"Hey, you!" Jet shouted, running towards him, hook swords in hand.
The boy turned, and got into a fighting stance, "What?" he asked sharply, as Jet stopped a few feet from him.
"Hey, it's Avin!" Sokka said, grabbing Jet, "He's a friend of ours. It's okay."
"What are you doing here, Airhead?" Toph asked, running to her friend and slapping him on the shoulder.
"You sure know how to give a guy a nice welcome, Toph," Avin smiled, rubbing his arm, "But I've actually…" he looked down sheepishly and shuffled his feet, "I've actually been following you guys around for a while now, so I knew you'd need some help getting Aang and Katara back."
"Well, welcome aboard, Avin," Jet said, "Now come on, we've got to get going."
"Hey, wait a second, Jet," Toph said, as Jet turned to face her, "Who died and made you leader of this mission?"
"Yeah," Sokka said, "I've known Katara and Aang longest, and come up with the best ideas, so I should be the leader."
"Well, I'm Aang's best friend, and dealt with the Fire Nation a lot of times," Avin said quietly, "So I think I should lead."
"Well, I've had more experience with the Fire Nation than anyone," Zuko said, "And I'm good at tracking, so I should be the leader."
"You're all crazy," Jet said, "I'm the only one qualified to be leader of this rescue. I've been leader of the Freedom Fighters as long as I can remember, and I've fought the Fire Nation before."
"If you're such a great leader, where are your Freedom Fighters now?" Sokka asked.
"I left them so I could come help you guys!" Jet said.
"Will all of you be quiet?!" Toph shouted, and the four fell silent.
"Listen," Toph said, clutching her forehead, "Since I'm obviously not going to hear the end of this if any of you becomes leader, I'm putting myself in charge. If any of you have a problem with that you can tell it to my rock-themed friends," she said, lifting up two large boulders, "Got it?"
"…So Toph's leader. Agreed?" Jet asked.
Everyone nodded, and the blind earthbender looked around at the group.
"Right, so…anyone have any ideas?"
"Well, they got away by ship," Sokka said, "So we're going to have to follow them by ship. We'll have to make one."
"Really? So, um, tell us, genius," Avin muttered, "Where do you plan on getting all the stuff we'd need to build a ship? Robbery?"
"No, listen, we can just…" Sokka trailed off, unsure.
"That's the last time we ask Sokka for ideas," Jet exclaimed, slapping a hand to his forehead, "Let's just go on Appa."
"That's no good," Zuko said, "We'll get shot down if we approach from the air. And Aang's the only one who really knows how to fly Appa anyway."
"Great," Jet muttered, "Guess we're going with Sokka's plan after all."
"If we have to kill people to get the ship, can I be the one who kills them?" Avin asked.
"What the…? No, you freaking psychopath. We're going to buy the ship using my money," Jet said.
Avin crossed his arms and muttered to himself, "Not like you didn't kill an old man or something for that money anyway."
"What was that?" Jet asked, taking out his hook swords.
"Guys, just shut up and let's get going." Toph said, slapping a hand to her forehead.
"Hey, you guys…" Zuko pointed over to a mob of Fire Nation soldiers, running at the group.
"You kids! Stop right there!" The leader of the Fire Nations soldiers shouted.
"Yeah, uh, no," Zuko said, running towards the village.
"We've got to get away from here," Toph said, launching a large boulder at their pursuers, "Come on!"
Avin, Jet, and Sokka followed Toph and Zuko through the Earth Kingdom village, and Avin shouted, "Hey, wait, why don't we just fight them?"
"We don't have time," Jet said, as he dodged a few flames from the Fire Nation soldiers, "We have to get to Katara and Aang before they reach the Fire Nation."
Jet swung one of his hook swords around a cart, and used the momentum to send the cart flying at the Fire Nation platoon chasing them.
"Fire Nation warships like that are pretty slow," Zuko exclaimed as he pushed past a villager, "So we have time to get a ship, but it's got to be a fast one."
"Any ideas?" Sokka asked, throwing his boomerang at one of their pursuers.
As they reached the outskirts of the village, Avin snapped his fingers. "I bet we can steal one at the docks, but we'll have to do it at night."
"Really?" Toph asked, "Why night?"
"The night guards are lazy and usually sleep," Avin shouted, "So, getting past them should be easy for us."
"I suppose," Jet muttered, "We should do that, but do we have time?"
Toph looked at Zuko, as the rest of the group began to slow down. Zuko nodded, and Toph exclaimed, "Okay, we're going with that. Look, there's a cave up ahead, let's hide there."
The five ran into the cave, and Sokka, Avin, and Jet fell to the ground, tired.
"Man…" Avin panted.
"Wimps," Toph muttered, and Zuko made a fire for warmth.
"No, fool," Avin said, running to the fire and blowing it out, "Don't you think people will notice that? We have to stay hidden."
"Good point," Jet said.
"All we can do is just wait for nightfall. It's cold, sure, but a few hours won't kill us." Sokka said.
Everyone fell silent, and the wind whistled. Sokka looked over at Jet, and asked, "So where did you come from, back there?"
"I was following you guys too," Jet said, "I felt bad about what's happened, and was hoping to make it right by joining up with you guys. I didn't anticipate this, obviously."
"Seriously?" Avin asked, "How many people were following Aang and the others, I wonder?"
"It was probably just you and me," Jet said, "Really, anyone else following them around would have revealed themselves by now, I would think."
"You would, but…" Avin said, rubbing his chin curiously.
"We don't have time for that now!" Zuko shouted, "Shouldn't we, you know, go steal- er, borrow that boat now?" He pointed out towards the mouth of the cave, as the sun began to set over the horizon.
"Good point," Avin and Jet declared simultaneously, getting up and looking at each other oddly.
"…anyway," Avin went on, as Jet scratched his head, "Let's go, with luck we'll have Aang and Katara rescued by this time tomorrow."
As Zuko and Sokka started arguing about who would sail the ship, Toph slapped a hand to her forehead.
You can just tell when it isn't going to go well…